


Found Peace In You

by RoSH (RoSH95)



Series: Dororo One-Shots [2]
Category: Dororo (Anime 2019)
Genre: ALL THE FLUFF, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Soulmates, SO MUCH FLUFF, Sibling Relationship, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-02 06:33:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18805672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoSH95/pseuds/RoSH
Summary: Dororo and Hyakkimaru are children abandoned by the world, who managed to find peace in each other.Or, the soulmate AU in which soulmarks indicate the relationship you will eventually share with your soulmate.





	Found Peace In You

**Author's Note:**

> I've been sitting on this for a week and I finally decided to just finish the damn thing and post it regardless of how happy I was with it because otherwise I was never gonna do it and I hate leaving stories unfinished. Hopefully someone somewhere out there likes it.

Dororo used to hate his words.

In a world where soulmarks are words that show what kind of relationship you will one day share with your soulmate, he just gets _Dororo_? Typical.

It couldn’t even be something simple. Something to show he’ll be more than just a name to his soulmate. But of course, Dororo learned early on that fate likes to fuck him over—it even gave him the wrong body when he was born.

Now when Dororo looks at the word _Aniki_ stamped in black ink down the back of Hyakkimaru’s neck, he doesn’t hate his words anymore. “Dororo” is the first word Hyakkimaru said aloud to him. And he knows now that it means “brother, friend, family, comfort.” But no single one of those words would fit to encompass what Dororo means to Hyakkimaru. The same as Hyakkimaru is also “protector, playmate, brother-in-arms, home.”

And so their soulmarks are _Dororo_ and _Aniki_. They fit.

~

Hyakkimaru knew of about soulmates in the same way that he knew about sounds, or pain, or language. It was a vague far away concept that his parent taught him about as best they could teach a child who is mute, deaf, blind, and nerveless. It was something that he hoped to one day experience and learn more about.

And then, like with sounds and pain and language, all of a sudden, it was right on top of him and all around him.

Biwamaru is quite happy to tell Hyakkimaru and Dororo that the word stamped down the back of his neck says “ _Aniki_.” He cackles like a madman in the silence it wrought around their campfire, and when Hyakkimaru instinctively reaches for Dororo, he is surprised to discover that, for once, the little soul isn’t hovering near him, but standing ramrod straight a little ways off, flickering uncertainly.

“Dororo?”

The moment passes as Dororo shakes off whatever had come over him, and bounds over to where Hyakkimaru sits, brimming with childish energy once more.

“Now I know three words!” he exclaims, pressing his fingers against the raised skin of the mark.

Hyakkimaru takes note of the position, remembering the precise burning sensation there when he got his skin back. Now he knows why.

Later, when Dororo is asleep, Hyakkimaru asks Biwamaru what it means to be a soulmate.

“It means whatever you make of it,” is the cryptic answer.

~

For Hyakkimaru and Dororo, being soulmates means Dororo nagging at Hyakkimaru to make sure he eats and sleeps and doesn’t push himself until he literally drops from exhaustion. It means Hyakkimaru pulling Dororo close in the middle of the night and curling around him like a cat, big and warm and safe. It means both of them comforting the other with touch when its needed and knowing when space is required.

Dororo’s favorite moments are when Hyakkimaru will lay down with his head in his lap and let Dororo play with his hair. He braids it and then traces patterns across his brother’s brow and cheeks with his fingers until Hyakkimaru sighs contentedly and his eyes fall shut. He loves watching all the tension—the need to keep moving forward with a wake of blood behind him—drain out of him.

Hyakkimaru likes the little things. The way Dororo takes care of him without asking, and always makes sure he has what he needs; food when he’s hungry, a fire when he’s cold, a hug when he’s sad. But his favorite thing is when Dororo stops trying to mother him and they roll around in the grass wrestling like dogs for a couple minutes. Its fun and it leaves them both breathless with laughter, and for a minute, Hyakkimaru can forget that he is a boy whose father sold his body to demons, and just be a child playing in the dirt with his soulmate for a bit.

 

Dororo and Hyakkimaru are children abandoned by the world, who managed to find peace in each other.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are the lifeblood of authors so if you liked this PLEASE leave me a comment! Even if its something little they all make my day!


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